Suggestions for hotel or region of city to stay in Geneva
 

I am attending a conference in early 2014 at the International Conference Centre Geneva. It is near the UN. I have never been to Geneva. Based on the maps the Intercontinental is closest but it appears to be away from the city center. The other suggested hotels from the meeting seem to be more in the city center although slightly farther away. I would like to be where I can walk to restaurants and such from the hotel not in an isolated area of town. Any suggestions on hotels or parts of town that are in good locations for walking around for things and easy travel to the conference center? Thanks.

Geneva has an interesting feature for visitors that you may feel opens up options for you: They give you a free pass for all local public transit. Before you exit customs, you will see machines where, if you push a button, you'll get a ticket for free to get you to your hotel.

Once you arrive at your hotel, the desk or concierge will give you a free public transit pass good for the duration of your stay, including the return trip to the airport.

So you have another option in addition to walking.

The CICG where you'll be conferencing is indeed close to the UN, and not too far from the IC.
There are a few local restaurants around the CICG, but depending on the number of days you'll be around you'll soon run out of choices.
May I ask where the other suggested hotels are located ? I would stay somewhere downtown as there are many more options in terms of restaurants and things to do and see.
Bus 5 stops right in front of the CICG, it is only about 10 minutes away from the main railway station. And as RichardInSF mentioned you'll get a free public transportation ticket from your hotel for the whole stay, so you won't have to worry about getting a ticket each time you board a bus/tram/train.

And the Intercontinental is just 3 stops further away from the CICG. The number 5 bus runs pretty frequently during the day and it's a short ride into the city centre. It's pretty walkable and I've done that frequently.
However, you may want to for hotels in the city area, where there's obviously more going on in the evenings. From most of the city area it's a 10 minute ride to CICG (and about 12 minutes more out to the airport).
Difficult to give hotel advice as I live here and have never stayed in one, so suggest you use tripadvisor or something similar.

The other hotels are clustered mainly in two areas. One is around Parc de Trembley and Parc Beaulieu and the other is labeled "City Center" and is in the area labeled Paquis-Temple, Paquis-Mole and James-Fazy. Thanks again for the help.

Parc Tremblay/Parc Beaulieu is more residential and is about 15 minutes walking distance from the CICG.
Paquis is "behind the train station" therefore a bit more sleazy. It is full of bars and restaurants from all around the world and lively.
Temple is not in Paquis but at James-Fazy, that would be where the Mandarin Oriental is located. Calmer neighbourhood with bars and restaurants just around the corner.

Bumping this - I'll be in Geneva for a night in March before I fly out the next day. Can anyone suggest a good hotel, reasonably priced, for two people in an area conducive to bars/restaurants but also somewhat easy to get to the airport?

Thanks!

Stayed at the Ibis Geneve Centre Nations a few months back. Price reasonable (considering it's Geneva). Nothing luxurious but recently renovated by the looks of it, clean and quite comfortable. It's sort of halfway between the centre and the airport. It's a 5 minute walk from the bus stop where you can catch bus number 5 directly to the airport, which took about 15 minutes.

Geneva isn't that big, and it was about 20 minutes walking to the centre and the old town, plenty of bars and restaurants around.